Metrics
Genre:
Sci-fi, Hollywood
Rating:
7.2/10
Audience:
People who like sci-fi movies and Nolan-type films. People who like examinations of humanity as a whole. Adults because of tone, no explicit material.
Rewatch Time:
2h, pretty interesting plot. More of a one-off, but could rewatch in five-ish years.
Winner:
Louise (Amy Adams)
Review
So in terms of subject-matter, this movie is definitely really awesome. Just the colours when Louise and Ian (Jeremy Renner) interact with the heptapods, with the camera angles and the tension in the score are awesome, and I liked the design of the aliens. Their language was probably the star of this movie, as was the characters’ conversation of language’s connection to cognition and how we as a species think because of how we communicate. Watching Louise teach the aliens and learn their language was really cool to watch as time went on, and the world powers’ reaction to the situation looked pretty reasonable (unfortunately for us in the real world). Still, the ending moral of the movie was strong and had a sense of promise, even with some possible tragedy that needs to be embraced. Colonel Weber (Forest Whitaker) was surprisingly supportive, even if I felt Ian didn’t really do that much.
Spoiler Territory
So the “offer weapon” thing was a really cool scene, and her figuring out it was actually a gift, and that she could look into the future, was really nice. The way they showed her using this power to influence what’s going on, especially with General Sang (Tzi Ma), was cool. And then the big reveal of her daughter actually being in the future and dying from an incurable disease, but her still choosing to go through with it was definitely something, although I didn’t care too much about the daughter. It was pretty sad watching the world stop talking to each other, and quite annoying when the podcasters were criticizing everything for no reason, but it was accurate.